"None whatever. I did not even suspect it, though, since the facts have become known, I can see that I might have done so with reason."
"You have been a close and intimate friend of Cacami's, tzin Euet. Will you state to the court what you know of him personally?"
The court, like the audience, had been favorably impressed with the bearing and perfect candor of the young people, who were being tried for their lives, and was evidently seeking palliating conditions relevant to their case. The last quest of the judge could have been made with no other intent. It was just the position in which the tzin desired to be placed; for it gave him the ear of the court, and the liberty to address it in behalf of his friend, without the fear of interruption so long as he observed a due regard for its dignity. He began by saying:
"The court is very kind in conferring upon me the liberty to address it—a privilege I very much desired, for which I am profoundly thankful." Here the tzin made his obeisance to the court, and continued:
"I have known Cacami long enough, and well enough, to be able to speak of him in no doubtful language. Cacami and myself labored side by side for the freedom of Tezcuco, in times that tried the patriotism of her sons. I know him to be a patriot and true friend, which I have proven, not only once, but many times. He is a brave and valiant warrior, to which our noble Hualcoyotl can bear abundant testimony. He is a true man, in that he has staked his life in an issue which involves those emotions and sentiments of the heart which honor a man above all others—a pure, unsullied love for the woman of his choice. He stands to-day, though a prisoner at the bar of justice, a man to whom Tezcuco owes as much as to any one person within or without her borders. Had it not been for the strong right arm of this valiant man, both as citizen and warrior, Hualcoyotl would not be king to-day. You look at me in amazement, and well you may, for the words I speak are the words of truth and soberness; and when this court condemns to die the warrior Cacami, for following the dictates of an attachment stronger than the fear of death, it robs Tezcuco of one of her bravest and best; a man to whom every Tezcucan should give honor and respect, which is his due; for out of his hand came the life of Hualcoyotl, the king, whom all delight to honor." The audience, at this point in the tzin's speech, was like a mine prepared, ready to break out in a storm of approval, from the effect of his impressive eloquence. His heart was in the subject, and his face illumined by the earnestness of his effort to place the character of his friend in the best possible light before the judges. He continued:
"The words of commendation which I am compelled to speak in behalf of the warrior Cacami are not spoken out of sympathy for a friend who is passing through an ordeal, but from a feeling of regard for his personal worth. I admire a man who is brave and fearless in the discharge of his duty, be that duty what it may. Such a man is found in the prisoner at the bar—the man whom you are to liberate or condemn to death. I do not negative the possibility that a feeling of friendship for the accused may influence me to some extent in what I say; it could hardly be otherwise; but, while this may be admitted, there underlies it all an esteem and admiration for the man—as a man—which have developed through daily intercourse and observation, and which would obtain were we less friendly. My language has not been too strong, I would impress upon you, but rather lacking in strength; for the words have not yet been coined that will do justice to the worth of him whom the law would condemn. Were the king to stand in my place at this moment, I believe that he would, in the magnanimity of his noble nature, be compelled to reecho the words I have spoken. If worth, in those attributes which are esteemed above all others in a man's character: honesty, fidelity, courage, and patriotism, may be counted in the prisoner's favor, then I pray the court to give him the benefit of its weight; for, if any man is entitled to it, that man is Cacami, the defendant at the bar."
It will be in order here to enlighten the reader relative to the demeanor of the king during the time which elapsed after he entered the charge against Cacami up to the day of his trial.
When too late to recall his action, the sting of mortification and chagrin having subsided sufficiently to permit him to reason, Hualcoyotl became conscious of the fact that he had acted rashly and unwisely. When he recalled the many instances wherein Cacami had stood between him and death, especially when, a stranger to him, he had undoubtedly saved him from the fate which finally overtook his enemy, the Tepanec king, he was filled with remorse for the ungenerous course he had taken. He had promised to remember his deliverer in the future, and how had he done it? By committing him to the mercy of an exacting tribunal of justice, from the decision of which there was no appeal.
The day of trial found the repentant king wrought up to a degree of mental excitement so great that he could not be composed for a minute. He walked the floor of his apartments almost incessantly, and would see no one. He was waiting impatiently for a summons to appear before the court, but no summons came. It came to that point when he could endure the suspense no longer, and he resolved to go to the hall uncalled, where he would listen to the proceedings unobserved. He came to the door of the court-room and paused, just in time to hear Itlza's last answer, which condemned her, in the minds of the judges. When the tzin rose to give in his testimony—which proved to be more in the nature of a speech—he was all attention, and heard every word the speaker said, apparently forgetting his distress of mind in the absorption of the moment, while listening to his friend's eloquent plea.
When Euetzin concluded his address to the court, and was seated, Hualcoyotl entered the hall and walked straight to the spot on which the former had stood, and paused. The court and spectators were astonished alike at the singular conduct of the king. His majesty was laboring under suppressed excitement and, for a moment, after facing the court, appeared unable to speak. He, however, quickly recovered his equanimity, and spoke as follows: